Peppermint Winter
by Lyra G. Rowin
Summary: Kurt agrees to help Blaine put up Christmas decorations. Shameless fluff ensues.


**Notes**: This is kind of a follow up to My Missing Puzzle Piece, until I get around to writing a proper sequel (maybe once I'm done with finals), but there's just a couple minor references to events in MMPP. Basically this is just established, Christmas-y Klaine. And I chose to ignore Baby, It's Cold Outside, both because it's been written to death, and because I didn't want to write something that'll be obsolete in four days. The title is from Owl City's new Christmas song, which I haven't actually listened to in its entirety, but it fits. :)

"Blaine… I have a confession to make."

Blaine looked at him sideways, warily. "Okay, what is it?"

"So I know I'm kind of a whore for all things designer and couture, and I absolutely hate big box stores. I only tolerate franchise restaurants because I have no other choice in Lima. So you would expect a guy like me to frequent some quaint little coffee shop that's the best kept secret in town, but…" He let out a deep breath. "I'm kind of _obsessed_ with Starbucks." Blaine burst out laughing. Only Kurt would think that was some kind of momentous confession. "I'm serious! It's pathetic! I had my first sip of a mocha Frappuccino when I was thirteen, and I've been addicted ever since. I hide Frappuccino bottles in my room like some guys hide liquor. It's _embarrassing_."

"Oh yes. An absolute scandal. I'll make sure not to let it slip to Entertainment Weekly when you're rich and famous," Blaine teased, getting up to fetch their drinks, which were ready at the counter.

"You never take anything I say seriously!" Kurt huffed, following Blaine and snatching his non-fat no-whip triple-shot whatever concoction out of his hand.

"I take _everything_ you say seriously. I listened to your hour-long rant about why Mondo_ totally_ should have won Project Runway because Gretchen is a heinous bitch, and I don't even watch that show. I supported you through the great Scuffed Shoe Crisis of 2010. I agreed with you that Harry and Hermione's awkward dance in the latest Harry Potter movie was a complete waste of time. I—"

"Okay, I get it. I can be a little overdramatic about things." Kurt smiled ruefully as they walked out of Starbucks and a gust of bitter cold wind met their faces.

"Well, the first step is admitting it – not that I'm implying this is a fault needing correction. I like that you're high-strung. When you start ranting you get this adorable flushed look on your face, like – like that!"

A blush had crept onto Kurt's face; he ducked and tried to hide it in his scarf. "I'm just cold, that's all."

"Aww, am I embarrassing you?" Blaine slipped his arm around Kurt's waist and kissed the side of his forehead, which just made Kurt's face grow even warmer. He sipped his coffee as a distraction and smiled to himself.

Just a month and a half ago Kurt would have sold several of his most prized articles of clothing for the chance to walk down an Ohio sidewalk with a gorgeous boy's arm around him – a gorgeous boy who liked him and cared about him, and whom he liked and cared about in return.

"Thank you for the coffee," Kurt said softly. Blaine nodded, knowing Kurt was subtly thanking him for so much more.

The two boys had made their Starbucks run in order to pep themselves on caffeine in preparation for an afternoon of putting up Christmas decorations at Blaine's house. Kurt wasn't big on Christmas itself, but he loved decorating and he loved Bla… he loved _spending time with_ Blaine, so the pros had outweighed the cons in his mind.

Blaine's parents worked during the day, but Dalton Academy had already let out for winter break, which left Blaine and Kurt free to take over decorating duty. As they entered Blaine's house, Kurt inwardly high-fived himself that they were electing to hang garlands and ornaments while Blaine's parents were out, rather than the sorts of things Kurt knew Finn and Rachel did when he tactfully left them alone in the empty house.

Not that he and Blaine had really done anything yet. Beyond their lovely first few kisses, there had been a peck here and there, but little real time alone. But Kurt didn't really mind – he was still getting used to all the fringe benefits that came with being boyfriend and boyfriend – boyfriends? He wasn't quite sure how he preferred to phrase it.

Blaine interrupted his reverie, explaining, "So there's a box of garlands over there… the ornaments for the tree over here… some other miscellaneous things in those boxes. I think there's more upstairs, too. And we have stuff to make a gingerbread house if you want." Blaine grinned.

"As amusing as that sounds, I remember all-too-clearly how our last sweets-related venture turned out, and I'd rather not end up covered in icing. This scarf is new."

"I thought so. I like it, that shade of blue brings out your eyes." It absolutely flabbergasted Kurt how Blaine could say things like that as if it was no big deal, and then just turn casually to open the box of garland.

"So we can put some of this around the banister if you like…"

"Fabulous," Kurt said, snatching a piece out of the box, tossing it around his neck like a feather boa, and flouncing off towards the stairs. Blaine followed with the box, laughing.

The afternoon progressed much in the same manner – they would try to be serious and actually get something done, but then one of them would make some silly pun about donning their gay apparel, or decide that a roll of tinsel would work much better as a hat, and they would end up dissolving into laughter. Nevertheless, by the time they had moved on to trimming the tree, the house was looking impressively festive.

"Where did this ornament come from? It looks like something Lady Gaga would wear," Kurt said, sitting cross-legged on the floor, gingerly lifting a fragile blob of silver tinsel, sequins, rhinestones and glitter out of the ornament box.

"Oh, oh, Christmas, my Christmas tree's delicious…" Blaine sang idly, referencing Gaga's highly inappropriate contribution to Christmas music from last year.

Kurt almost dropped the aforementioned ornament. "You can't just _say_ things like that," he said, his face burning red again.

"Sorry," Blaine said calmly, watching Kurt's reaction with curiosity rather than amusement. "Anyway, it was an elementary school art project." Blaine took the ornament from Kurt, who had added a hook onto it, and hung it on a branch near the back. "I didn't come out until I was fourteen, but… there were signs." Kurt laughed understandingly as he pulled off his scarf and sat it next to him on the floor – it had become rather warm as they'd been working.

Occasionally their hands would brush when Kurt passed him an ornament, but it was subtly romantic rather than awkward. Blaine had put on Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album playing softly in the background, and occasionally one or both of them would sing along. Kurt had to admit he liked the way their voices sounded together – they'd sung together in the Warblers before, of course, but never just the two of them. Their impromptu harmonizing was practically a seduction routine – occasionally Blaine would switch things up and take the upper part of the harmony, letting Kurt play with the lower half of his range. When they sang together, neither of them even paid attention to Ella.

Once Kurt had finished placing hooks on all of the ornaments, he stood and began to help Blaine with hanging them on the tree. He grabbed three nondescript ornaments to add to the side of the tree nearest to the wall, and had just hung the last of them when he felt Blaine's arms suddenly loop around his waist from behind him.

"Hi," Kurt said lamely.

"Hi." Blaine said, amused, resting his chin on Kurt's left shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, we just haven't had a lot of time alone the past few days… and as fun as today has been, I don't want to feel like we've missed an opportunity." Kurt laughed, a mixture of curious-nervous-aroused, but the laugh quickly died in his throat. True, he had been priding himself on averting a teenage stereotype, but with the way Blaine was now kissing his neck, he began to think that some stereotypes existed for a reason. He simply hummed happily and leaned up closer against Blaine, silently thanking Grilled Cheesus that he'd taken off his scarf earlier.

"Have I told you you're amazing?" Blaine purred in his ear.

Kurt flushed. Confident as he was of his amazing singing talents – Rachel and Blaine were the only two people he knew that he'd ever considered equals in that respect (well, and Mercedes, but they didn't exactly occupy the same musical niche) – he had the feeling Blaine was talking about a little more than that.

Kurt turned to face Blaine and leaned against the wall, pulling Blaine toward him, arms around his neck. "And what brought that on?"

"Does there have to be a reason?" Kurt supposed not, but he wasn't really in any position to respond as Blaine leaned in to kiss him. His lips were slightly chapped from being out in the dry, cold winter weather, but Kurt didn't mind. As Blaine's tongue slipped gently between his lips Kurt noticed the lingering taste of his latte, which he'd just finished minutes ago. He moaned softly – peppermint mochas had always been a weakness of his.

Blaine pulled back and gazed at him, eyes sparkling with wonder at the reaction he'd provoked. "Oh my God, you taste delicious," Kurt blurted out. Blaine laughed, clearly not expecting_ that_ explanation.

"You weren't kidding about that Starbucks obsession, were you?"

Kurt shook his head, trying to hide his embarrassment. "What can I say, a coffee-flavored boyfriend is kind of my dream come true."

Blaine laughed and swooped in to kiss Kurt again, letting him explore his mouth with his tongue even more now that he knew he enjoyed the taste. At times Kurt wondered if maybe he should feel a bit more awkward or hesitant in these situations – he knew all too sharply how inexperienced he was, and he had no idea what he was doing, really. While kissing Brittany he'd kind of been trying to think about anything _but_ what she was doing, and it hadn't been difficult, considering it was about as exciting as kissing his own hand.

But with Blaine the precise technique didn't really seem to matter – they somehow seemed to move together and meet each other in these perfect ways that set Kurt's every nerve ending on fire and made him want to curl up in Blaine's arms and purr like a kitten and stay there forever, while at the same time dancing down the street with cartoon birds, marching bands, and Hall & Oates playing in the background. The contradictory fantasy made sense in his head.

As Blaine sucked and nibbled gently on Kurt's lower lip, he quickly had him whimpering over more than just the delicious mixture of peppermint, coffee and chocolate. Kurt's fingers scrabbled up Blaine's neck to the side of his jaw, feeling his stubble beneath his fingertips, and as much of a practitioner of the clean-shaven, porcelain-skinned look as Kurt was himself, he had to admit that he found scruffy-Blaine hot in a way that made him absurdly weak in the knees.

Blaine wrapped an arm around his waist, pulling him closer in an attempt to helpfully hold him up, but Kurt squirmed, unable to pull away but not wanting Blaine to notice how embarrassingly hard he was. Kurt could tell when he did notice, his eyes widening and his pupils darkening, but there was a smile playing about his features as he said, "Maybe that's enough for today."

Kurt's face was warm as he said, unable to meet his boyfriend's eyes, "Blaine, if you're going to call a stop to things every time you turn me on, then I guess I can't even be in the same room with you anymore."

Blaine opened and closed his mouth several times, clearly not sure if Kurt was exaggerating or not (he wasn't), and settled for a nervous half-laugh.

"Well, we couldn't have that, now could we?" And Blaine kissed him once more, long and sweet – in both senses of the word. "Merry Christmas, Kurt."

"It's not Christmas, Blaine."

Blaine laughed bashfully. "Shut up! It sounded good, okay?"

Kurt laughed, too. He adored Blaine in all settings, but he was rather partial to the playful, dorky Blaine that he only saw outside of Dalton – the Blaine that he was seeing now, who had him pinned up against a wall behind his Christmas tree, which was not any sort of innuendo, thank-you-very-much-Lady-Gaga.

Kurt hugged Blaine tightly, feeling as though his heart was growing three sizes that day – and unlike the Grinch's, his hadn't been undersized to begin with. He murmured happily, "Merry Christmas, Blaine."


End file.
